ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
January 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Article considers incorporation of AI into nuclear power plant operations
The potential application of artificial intelligence to the operation of nuclear power plants is explored in an article published in late December in the Washington Examiner. The article, written by energy and environment reporter Callie Patteson, presents the views of a number of experts, including Yavuz Arik, a strategic energy consultant.
Steven E. Aumeier, J. Hope Forsmann
Nuclear Technology | Volume 122 | Number 1 | April 1998 | Pages 104-124
Technical Paper | Radioisotopes | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2855
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ability to nondestructively determine the presence and quantity of fissile/fertile nuclei in various matrices is important in several areas of nuclear applications, including international and domestic safeguards, radioactive waste characterization, and nuclear facility operations. An analysis was performed to determine the feasibility of identifying the masses of individual fissionable isotopes from a cumulative delayed-neutron signal resulting from the neutron irradiation of several uranium and plutonium isotopes. The feasibility of two separate data-processing techniques was studied: Kalman filtering and genetic algorithms. The basis of each technique is reviewed, and the structure of the algorithms as applied to the delayed-neutron analysis problem is presented. The results of parametric studies performed using several variants of the algorithms are presented. The effect of including additional constraining information such as additional measurements and known relative isotopic concentration is discussed. The parametric studies were conducted using simulated delayed-neutron data representative of the cumulative delayed-neutron response following irradiation of a sample containing 238U, 235U, 239Pu, and 240Pu. The results show that by processing delayed-neutron data representative of two significantly different fissile/fertile fission ratios, both Kalman filters and genetic algorithms are capable of yielding reasonably accurate estimates of the mass of individual isotopes contained in a given assay sample.